What I'd do for you
by UnwieldyInk
Summary: In which Nico jumps in front of Will and isn't thinking straight when he wakes up to see Will sitting next to him. Rated Teen for violence I guess? I wasn't sure.
1. Chapter 1- Battle

Nico ducked as the empusa's blade sliced through the air above him. How had everything gone so wrong? It was supposed to be a little thing, just an average capture the flag game. But a red flag now sat tattered on the ground, the game forgotten.

...

Pushed to the ground, Nico fought the fleeting urge to give up. His hand felt empty, and he soon realized it was because his sword was lying ten feet away from him. He halfheartedly peered up at the laestrygonian towering over him. Seeing its raised club, he sighed. So they would have to do this the hard way, then.

...

Nico fought his drooping eyelids as he saw the sun dip over the horizon. How long had they been fighting, now? It didn't matter. He could see the number of enemies dwindling. They were making progress. He was sure of it. But the constant use of his powers was wearing him out, and as he dipped through the shadows, slashing and weaving, he felt them weigh on him like a metal coat. Almost as if they didn't want to let him go.

...

He was right. The enemies were dwindling. There were now more recovering demigods on the field laid out in front of him than active fights going on. Exhausted and looking for a kind face to settle into, Nico fell upon bright blue eyes that were all too familiar.

Will smiled at him from the other side of the field, although his eyes were weary and his face was smudged with dirt and blood. Nico started stumbling towards him, as if in a trance. But before he could reach him, Nico noticed something behind Will.

Shadows. Rustling. Not unlike the ones that still clung to his arms and ankles.

Nico moved faster.

...

Will didn't understand. Didn't understand the expression on Nico's face, the subtle shake of his head, the sudden urgency with which he was moving. He didn't understand. And he didn't see the shadows moving behind him, the flicker of a tongue through pointed teeth, the claws clutching a raised dagger, aimed at a spot right in between his shoulder blades-

...

"Will!" Nico slammed into Will's shoulder, knocking him to the ground. The monster's blade, before directed at Will's back, pierced Nico's stomach instead, making him stumble backward. Numbly, Nico heard Will call his name, too, but his voice sounded like he was underwater.

Nico lost consciousness before he hit the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Nico was aware of was the faint buzz of the air conditioning. Next, the alcoholic smell crowding this whole building. He was in the infirmary, then. He'd been in there enough times (because he was accident prone, and definitely _not_ because Will spent a lot of time there) to know where he was without opening his eyes. The next sense that reached him was the feeling of bed sheets, and then… someone holding his hand? That couldn't be right.

But no, someone was definitely holding his hand in theirs, slowly running their fingertips across his own. Nico was about to open his eyes when the person, whoever it was, slowly lifted his hand up and pressed their lips to it. Nico felt his heart skip a beat, and tried to open his eyes, only to find that he couldn't. He tried to ask who was there, but his mouth wouldn't open. Then he tried to lift his arm up, but it too wouldn't cooperate.

He couldn't move.

Nico figured that a normal person would've felt panicked at this realization, but honestly, with all the stuff that he'd gone through in the past, he couldn't find any emotion besides mild intrigue for the subject. And Will was right there (Nico had decided that it was indeed Will sitting next to him, as he was probably the most likely one to sit by his side after he got hurt, both because he already worked at the infirmary and because he probably felt guilty that Nico had jumped in front of him). Will had sewn people's arms back on and restored mangled bodies back to normal. It was nearly impossible for Nico to stay seriously hurt if Will was there. And besides, Nico had taken a sword wound to the gut. Even if it did paralyze him, it should've only been from the waist down. He should've still been able to open his eyes and talk.

No, this was something else. Maybe a god was messing with him. Or maybe he was just so exhausted that his body wasn't letting him even lift a finger, even if he was awake and alert. Whatever it was, he was sure it would wear off eventually.

And anyways, he had more important things to worry about. _Will was holding his hand._ (He really hoped it was Will.)

Will kissed Nico's hand again, this time on his palm instead of the back of his fingers, which made his heart skip another beat.

Suddenly, Nico heard the door open and someone walk into the room. Will quickly folded Nico's hand down on his stomach, which was pretty much the exact opposite of what Nico had wanted to happen.

"Hey, Will," Jason said, and Nico could hear a smile in his voice. Of course. They'd all just seen Will holding Nico's hand, and they all definitely knew about Nico's crush on him.

Of course, now that Nico had jumped in front of Will and taken a blade for him, the entire camp probably knew about his crush.

Including Will.

Schist.

Then again, Will had been holding his hand, so maybe…

No. He shouldn't get his hopes up.

Nico heard footsteps on the left of his bed, and then someone fiddling with something. Putting flowers there, maybe? He wasn't sure.

"How's Nico doing?" The person on his left, who Nico now knew was Percy, asked.

Will cleared his throat before responding. "He hasn't woken up yet. But he's stable." After a moment of silence, Will added "I'm sure he'll wake up soon."

"Will…" Piper's voice said. "No offense, but… you look awful. Have you slept at all since he got hurt?"

"Well… no."

"Erm, you probably… should. Take it easy on yourself."

Will laughed. "Yeah. I guess so."

Another girl (Annabeth?) hummed quietly. "Is he in a coma?" (Yup, Annabeth).

"No!" Will said quickly. "He's just sleeping. He's probably tired." He sounded more like he was reassuring himself than anyone else.

Am _I in a coma?_ Nico thought. _I don't think so. I've been stabbed before, and it doesn't usually put me in a coma._

His friends kept speaking, but their voices began to fade and Nico couldn't make out their words. He didn't even try to fight as he fell back into his dreams once more.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Nico faded into consciousness a few times, though still never conscious enough to open his eyes. Each time, he was awake for barely ten minutes, and each time, there was no one in the room but him and Will (not that he minded, of course). Still, he couldn't move when he woke up, until one night at around two o'clock in the morning, when he opened his eyes.

After blinking a few times, he smiled at the sight of Will's hand in his own. He gave it a little squeeze, both to check if he could move his hand, and because it was pretty much the thing that he'd wanted to do the most for the past however many days it was.

Will was slumped against the side of his hospital bed, passed out with his mouth hanging open. _Has he really been sitting here this whole time?_ Nico thought. _During the night, too?_

Sitting up a little, he reached his left hand out to Will's sleeping face, running his thumb along the bags under his eyes. Slowly, Will blinked himself awake, but sat up when he saw that Nico was up.

"Nico!" Will whispered. "You're- I-"

"You look so tired…" Nico said softly, still resting his thumb on the bags under Will's eyes. "You should get some sleep. And I mean real sleep, not just passing out from sheer exhaustion while leaning against the edge of the bed." Will stared at him, still shocked that he was awake. "Have you been here the whole time?" Nico whispered.

"Yeah. I- Yeah."

After a moment of staring at each other, Nico pulled himself up slightly and weakly pressed his lips to Will's. He was still exhausted, and it happened so quickly that Will could barely react, but it was a kiss. Falling back down onto his bed, Nico whispered "Get some sleep," before slipping into unconsciousness himself.


	4. Chapter 4

"Uh… Will?" Jason asked. "Are you ok?"

Jason, Piper, Percy, and Annabeth had just walked in to visit Nico again, only to find Will staring at Nico, shocked.

"He… woke up last night," Will mumbled in a daze.

"What? Really? What did he…?"

"He kissed me." Will put a hand to his lips. "And he told me to get some sleep." He sounded completely stunned.

"He- he kissed you?" Jason asked. Will only nodded in response, and the entire room was silent as smiles slowly spread on the four visitors' faces.

However, their attention was attracted by something new happening: Nico blinked hard several times as he half sat up.

"You're awake!" Piper exclaimed.

"Hi."

"Nico! How do you feel?" Percy asked, grinning.

"Why is it so bright…" He was still blinking hard, as if trying to make the sunshine go away. "Can you close the curtains…?"

While Annabeth fulfilled his request, Nico took a deep breath.

"I could… hear you."

"What?" Will leaned closer, a concerned look on his face.

"When I was asleep… I wasn't actually asleep the whole time… but when I woke up, I couldn't move. I couldn't even open my eyes. But I could hear you guys when I was awake. I mean, it was only for about 5 minutes every once in a while, but still… I could hear you talking" He glanced over at Will for millisecond "and stuff."

Will blushed, still vaguely in a trance. "You kissed me," he stated, almost accusatory.

Nico rolled his eyes, mumbling "You can't wait until we're alone?" even as a blush creeped up his cheeks and the corners of his mouth perked up. He tried to shift around to be on his knees so that he could talk to his friends more easily, but he winced as he moved, and Will lurched forward.

"Don't. You'll hurt yourself." He had put one hand on Nico's back, and the other hovered right in front of his stomach, where he'd been injured, as if to catch him if he fell.

"...I'm ok," Nico sat back down, giving Will a weird look. Even so, he could feel his heart rate speed up at Will's hand resting on his back.

"Oh!" Jason burst out suddenly. "Um… I think you and Will need some alone time," He grinned, and the four of them rushed out. In hindsight, they were no doubt listening through the door, but at the moment, it didn't occur to either Will or Nico.

"You kissed me," Will mumbled again. Gulping, Nico leaned back a little.

"I- I'm sorry," He began. "It's just that- you kept kissing my hands so I thought- I thought it'd be ok and- I'm sorry I was half asleep anyways- it- it wasn't even a real kiss- I'm sorry."

Will sunk down in his chair. "So you didn't… mean it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you thought it was… a fluke? You don't wanna kiss me again?" He looked down as he said the word _fluke_ , as if he was fearing it was true.

"No no no, that's not what I- of course I want to kiss you again, I- I mean… do you?"

"Y-Yeah!" He laughed sheepishly. "I thought it was pretty obvious. I _have_ been holding your hand for about three days."

"Well I took a blade for you! I thought that would be conformation enough that I… I-" The words caught in his throat.

"You don't have to say it. I know. I love you too."

"I know."

Nico once again cupped Will's cheek and pushed himself up to kiss him, but this time, it was a real kiss. As Nico pushed up, up, eventually getting on his knees to be on the same level as Will, he wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Leaning into Nico, Will pushed back, putting his hands on Nico's thighs to keep his balance. With Will sitting down and Nico on his knees on a bed, Nico was slightly taller than Will, which meant that it was Will's turn to push up, up, up, as if they would meld together if he strained upwards enough.

Eventually, though, they broke the kiss. Holding onto each other, panting, they grinned at each other. Nico was the first one to speak.

"You still have those bags under your eyes. Did you sleep like I told you to?"

Will laughed, but said "Well, I slept a little after you kissed me, but I stayed here in case you woke up again. So I could- so I could ask you about what happened. I mean, you don't just kiss someone and then not give them any answers!"

"Well, we just kissed again. So ask away." Will opened his mouth, but Nico covered it with his hand. "After a nap, that is." He scooted back in the bed and held up the covers. Will crawled in, too, burying his face into Nico's side.

A few hours later, Kayla stumbled in to find them sound asleep in each other's arms.


End file.
